New Zealand man claims he saw Malaysian plane come down in flames

New Zealand man claims he saw Malaysian plane come down in flames

A New Zealand man working on an oil rig off the south coast of Vietnam says he witnessed the missing plane come down in flames.

New Zealand man claims he saw Malaysian plane come down in flames

The latest piece of the puzzle in the missing Malaysian Airliner saga may shed some light into the final moments of flight MH370.

Mike McKay had told the media he tried to contact Malaysian and Vietnamese officials, to send them the crucial information, several days ago.

However, McKay says he has yet to hear back and is unsure if his message had been received.

Details of his email have been reported this morning:

“I believe I saw the Malaysian Airlines plane come down. The timing is right,” Mr McKay said in the email.

“I observed (the plane) burning at high altitude.While I observed the burning (plane) it appeared to be in ONE piece.”

McKay detailed the coordinates of the oil-rig on which he is currently working on, as well as the sea current and wind direction and even estimated the plane to have ben 50-70km away from the oil rig.

“From when I first saw the burning (plane) until the flames went out (still at high altitude) was 10-15 seconds. There was no lateral movement, so it was either coming toward our location, stationary (falling) or going away from our location,” McKay wrote.

A Vietnam official has today confirmed that they will be investigating the claims made by Mr McKay.

Another news source had confirmed with his employer, Japanese Idemitsu Oil and Gas Co, who hired the Songa Mercur drill that Mr McKay works on, that the email sent with the reported sighting was “real”.

If Mr McKay’s reporting is accurate, it would place the missing Malaysian Airways Boeing 777, missing since Saturday with 240 people on board, near where it was originally thought to have disappeared off the radar.

Authorities have been frustratingly searching for any sign of the missing Boeing 777 since Saturday.

A Chinese satellite looking into the mysterious disappearance also seems to have observed some crash debris at sea. While the images were captured the day after the plane went missing the details have only been released today.

Conflicting, contradictory and inaccurate information released by officials at the centre of investigation in Malaysia have made the already difficult search more confusing.